Larimer court sets hearing in McWhinney suit, denies temporary restraining order

LOVELAND — A Larimer County District Court judge has set a hearing to consider a preliminary injunction in the Centerra South development case but declined to issue a temporary restraining order.

McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc., in its lawsuit against the city of Loveland, asked for both a restraining order and a preliminary injunction. The case was brought to overturn the Loveland City Council’s decision to rescind approval of both Centerra South Urban Renewal Area and its accompanying public financing plan.

In a one-paragraph ruling Friday, Judge Carroll Michelle Brinegar denied in part and granted in part McWhinney’s motion. She said that she “sees the need for a hearing on a preliminary injunction” but said that “the plaintiff has not pled with enough particularity to meet its burden for the temporary restraining order and therefore, the entry of a temporary restraining order is denied.”

The hearing on a preliminary injunction is set for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 18, at which time the court will consider setting a trial date for the lawsuit.

In its motion to the court, McWhinney’s attorneys wrote that urban renewal law is a complicated and long process, “and processes are important because the decision approving an urban renewal plan is final. … Urban renewal law does not permit a governing body to unilaterally rescind an approved plan,” the motion said.

The Loveland City Council at a special meeting this week appointed Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP to act as its legal counsel on the matter, and that firm filed its entry into the case Thursday evening.

McWhinney is represented by Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP.

The case is McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc. et al vs. city of Loveland, case number 2023cv30956 filed in Larimer County District Court.

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